John Calipari says Kentucky "needs" CJ Fredrick to help win games

After sitting out all of last season due to a hamstring injury, it’s been an up-and-down beginning to the 2022-23 campaign for CJ Fredrick. He started the first five games on the schedule for Kentucky, averaging 11.8 points in 30.0 minutes per contest while shooting 35.5 percent from beyond the arc — more than respectable numbers for the redshirt senior.

But after a 1-9 shooting performance in 36 minutes against Gonzaga (a loss for the Wildcats), Fredrick, for whatever reason, hasn’t been the same player. In the ensuing five games he played following the loss to Gonzaga, the former Iowa transfer averaged just 3.2 points in 12.0 minutes per game while making four combined 3-pointers.

Over the last few weeks, Fredrick had been slowly falling out of the rotation. He appeared to be a step too slow on defense against the top competition while the shot-making simply wasn’t up to his usual standards. For most shooters, making 35.5 percent of triples across a five-game stretch is solid. But for Fredrick, it was well below his career average of 46.6 percent during his time at Iowa.

That being said, he’s still an elite-level shooter. Despite the perceived struggles, Fredrick is connecting on 39.6 percent of his shots from deep this season on 4.4 attempts per game — placing him among the nation’s top snipers. He proved his value once again on Wednesday in the Wildcats’ 88-68 win over Florida A&M.

Against the Rattlers, Fredrick saw the floor for 25 minutes off the bench. He finished with 12 points (his most since Nov. 17) on a 4-6 clip from long range in addition to two dimes. The Cincinnati native was curling around screens with precision and hunting for his shots.

CJ for three x 3 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Aci9CWPLxK

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 22, 2022

“It felt good. Just staying confident in my shooting and coming to work every day,” Fredrick said of his performance on Wednesday. “Felt good to come out here and play and make shots and help my team win.”

In the three games prior to taking on Florida A&M, Fredrick combined to play just 30 minutes against Michigan, Yale, and UCLA. Kentucky snuck out a win over Michigan in London and trudged its way to a victory against Yale, but was brushed aside by the Bruins in Madison Square Garden. UK shot just 6-21 from beyond the arc in the loss to UCLA and only scored 53 points.

If Kentucky wants to improve its chances of beating the likes of a UCLA moving forward, it’s going to take a much better effort from distance. Antonio Reeves and Cason Wallace have helped pick up the slack so far (those two are a combined 53-115 this season from deep, or 46 percent), but the ‘Cats could use more spacing.

Fredrick will be key in helping unlock the offense’s full potential; he needs to be out there as the season progresses.

“We need CJ to win. We really do.” Head coach John Calipari said after Wednesday’s win. “I told him, I believe in you, kid. Making shots and making plays and he fights on defense — we switched, he fronted. The reason I had those guys in at the end, they’re veterans, playing to win.”

Against Florida A&M, Fredrick was a major reason why Kentucky prevented the Rattlers from making a full-on comeback. He knocked down back-to-back triples midway through the first half as Florida A&M attempted to slice into UK’s lead. Before Wednesday night, Fredrick hadn’t even hit a shot from deep since Dec. 4, but as the saying goes: shooters shoot.

“That’s what you got to do. I’m here to make shots and shoot the ball so I’m gonna do that to the best of my ability,” Fredrick added.

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